MasterPass Takes the Thorn Out of Finding the Perfect Gift

Ryan Bacher, managing director of NetFlorist, one of South Africa’s most respected entrepreneurs, speaks about the impact of digital payments on his business

Haven’t we all forgotten to arrange a gift for a loved one on their special day? NetFlorist is in the business of providing people the opportunity to purchase and send flowers or a special gift from wherever they are, online.

Eighty-five percent of the roughly 2,000 gifts purchased online each day in South Africa are made through the NetFlorist website, but to date our customers have been limited to making purchases with their credit cards. We wanted to open up our service to more consumers and realized that the acceptance of debit card payments was the next step in our growth strategy.

MasterPass has been an easy to implement solution, providing us with the ability to accept payments via the mobile wallet, but it has also provided a way to educate consumers on the ease of paying for our goods online. Standard Bank advised us that this solution would also provide an added layer of security, and give access to consumers we previously weren’t connected with.

Additionally, we wanted to solve the issue of cart abandonment, typically caused by the difficulty of paying for items when finished browsing on the site. A fast and simple checkout can help reduce this trend as consumers don’t need to repeatedly add in their billing details and follow too many steps before purchasing a gift.

Because we see ourselves as leaders and innovators in our industry, we look for smart solutions for our customers to make their shopping experience convenient and easy – ensuring repeat business. MasterPass gives people choice, and makes an everyday task such as paying for a gift, easy and hassle-free – especially when you have forgotten to buy an anniversary gift for the next day…

To highlight MasterPass on our website, we launched a R99 Store to help drive awareness of the payment platform where customers can purchase a range of specially marked and discounted items – only available if purchased using MasterPass.

MasterPass increases your market base, is non-discriminatory in that customers don’t have to bank with a certain bank and can load a MasterCard or other branded card into the digital wallet, and helps makes safe online shopping a reality. The retail environment needs smart digital payment solutions to give easier access, and for us at NetFlorist it has certainly achieved this.